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Growing Together

Over the years, Jack and Kay Keohane have learned that success-in
gardening as in marriage-requires cooperation. "We enjoy
collaborating on projects because we both like to add artistic
touches and found objects to the garden," Kay says. "Sometimes we
work together, but not too closely in the same area because we're
too often telling each other what to do," she adds with a laugh.
So, at home in Corte Madera, California, the couple divides
gardening tasks according to taste: Kay tends to the vegetable
patch, fruit trees, and herb garden, while Jack handles the
hardscape, fences, arbors, and ornamental plants.

Gardening here isn't always easy. In addition to the Bay Area's
deer, clay soil, and lack of summer heat (which makes it hard for
tomatoes to ripen), Kay and Jack can expect that every two years or
so, high tides and heavy winter rains will fill their garden with
floodwaters up to a foot deep. But Jack looks for the positive in
what could seem disastrous. "It's a chance to change and improve
the gardens," he says. Last year's flood brought new silt, he
explains, while the rain helped mitigate the amount of salt in the
tidal waters, making survival easier for the plants.

The Keohanes have learned that the key to successful coastal
gardening is an array of carefully chosen plants. Some are native,
others more exotic, but all are highly adaptable. Calla lilies and
annuals such as sweet alyssum and snapdragons bloom here well into
December. With the help of raised beds, well-drained soil, and
Jack's drip irrigation system, the couple also has seen native
Mediterranean plants, such as rosemary, lavender, and salvia,
flourish. To anchor their perennial beds, Jack combined colorful
flowering plants with ornamental grasses, and placed New Zealand
flax with coral-and-gray variegated leaves throughout the
garden.

Even more than planting, Jack likes to design focal points such
as trellises and arbors covered in climbing roses and
autumn-blooming clematis. Though the gardens stretch nearly 60 feet
toward the bay, Kay keeps her favorite bed close to home. Just
outside the kitchen door, berries, vegetables, and herbs
thrive.

Kay and Jack work to keep raspberries, roses, and everything in
between looking their best all year long. Though nature's surprises
may discourage other gardeners, Jack doesn't complain. "The
panoramic views of Mount Tam and San Francisco Bay are well worth
the challenges of gardening so close to the water," he says.